January. 1910. 



American Hee Journal 



our own countr\ — in proud Illinois — 

 mobs were dealing out lynch law to 

 black and wliite alike at Cairo. While 

 we look at the mote in our brother's 

 eye, let us not forget the beam which 

 is in ours, and bids fair to deprive us 

 entirely of eye-si,!>ht. 



Can we draw a moral from the action 

 of the Italian noblemen who have so 

 pushed bee-culture forward among the 

 masses? Yes. They were only a hand- 

 ful who took hold of this work, but 

 their united effort has done wonders. 

 It is not so much the numbers of pro- 

 gressive men that cause steps forward, 

 as the quality of the men who do this 

 work. So in whatever line we see pos- 

 sibility of progress let us unite, work 

 in harmony, and let us not leave a stone 

 unturned which may help progress 

 among our fellows. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Southern California as a Bee- 

 Country 



BY W. K. .MUSRISON. 



Mr. Editor: — In answer to your 

 query with regard to Southern Califor- 

 nia as a bee-country, I wish to say that 

 my knowledge of it is not sufficient to 

 allow me to pose as an authority. The 

 general observations which follow may, 

 however, answer your purpose for the 

 present. 



San Diego county is certainly the 

 banner honey-producing county of the 

 whole United States. Last season was 

 a rather poor one for the bee-keepers, 

 but the total honey crop was not far 

 from 7d carloads, of which .50 carloads 

 have already been shipped, and the re- 

 mainder has been partially contracted 

 for by Hamburg firms, which goes to 

 show the Germans are willing to pay 

 more for good honey than any other 

 nation. 



Imperial county was until recently a 

 part of this (San Diego) county, but 

 now it forms a sort of kingdom of its 

 own ; but a railroad is being rapidly 

 constructed to connect that section 

 with San Diego city, so that the latter 

 will form the exporting point for that 

 county, and possibly for all of Southern 

 California and part of Arizona. 



The prospects are good. Formerly 

 high freight-rates and poor country 

 roads held the bee-business back, but 

 now the rates are dictated by the steam- 

 ship people, who transport goods to 

 Salina Crux, in Mexico, where they are 

 transhipped to Port Mexico, in the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and thence to New 

 York, Liverpool, Southampton, London, 

 Havre, or Hamburg. By this route 

 there is not only a saving of freight- 

 rates, but a saving of time as well. 

 Even when the Panama canal is open- 

 ed, five years hence, there will be no 

 saving, as the Mexican route is about 

 a week shorter. At present the time 

 taken to New York or Liverpool is 

 about 22 days. In shipping honey and 

 beeswax these facts are important. The 

 Cape Horn route has been entirely 

 superseded. 



Other features of the situation are 

 the extensions of various railway lines. 

 The Santa Fe is busily improving its 

 road-bed by extensive alterations and 

 improvements, so that its fast trains 



will travel straight through to Chicago 

 without being remade. Los Angeles 

 will simply be a whistlin.g station on 

 the way to San Diego. Not only so. 

 but the Santa Fe intends to reconnect 

 Temecala with Fallbrook so as to give 

 it another through line via San Ber- 

 nardino. This line would pass through 

 an ideal bee-country. Various branch 

 lines project out from San Diego, and 

 extensions of these will soon take 

 place. 



One of these extensions is from Fos- 

 ters Station on to Ramona and War- 

 ner's Hot Springs, and thence on to 

 the Imperial country. This will pass 

 through a great bee-country only par- 

 tially developed. The reason for this 

 extension is curious. It has been dis- 

 covered that a section of country 

 around Julian, in San Diego county, is 

 great for producing apples, equal to, 

 and probably surpassing. Hood River 

 (Oregon), Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New 

 Mexico, or any other of the famous 

 apple-growing sections. I recently at- 

 tended an exhibition of these apples in 

 San Diego, and they were certainly 

 worth a long journey to see. This lit- 

 tle town of Julian can certainly surpass 

 such famous apple States as New York, 

 Michigan, or Arkansas. I saw such 

 old-time varieties as Yellow Transpar- 

 ent, Early Harvest. Red Astrachan, Red 

 June, Summer Pearmain, Ben Davis, 

 Missouri Pippin, Nonesuch, Winter 

 Pearmain, Winesap, Rome Beauty. 

 Alexander, Spitzenberg. R. I. Greening, 

 Maiden Blush, Bellflower, Northern 

 Spy, and even a far-north variety like 

 Wagner, grown to perfection. After 

 the exhibition was over the apples 

 were auctioned, and two boxes brought 

 $18 each. That's going some. At pres- 

 ent this apple section is without rail- 

 road facilities. Good apple lands, for 

 this reason, can be readily obtained at 

 low prices as yet. Moreover, it is a 

 great section for honey-production — 

 none better. 



The new Spreckeles railroad from San 

 Diego to Yuma, Ariz., will open up 

 some entirely new bee-country. It 

 jumps from the LInited States into 

 Mexico half a dozen times, hugging 

 the boundary line all the way. It is 

 said to be an extension of the Rock 

 Island system. If so, great develop- 

 ments can be confidently looked for. 

 The population of San Diego has 

 trebled in 9 years, and in all probability 

 it will have 100,000 by li)l.j. 



Another improvement that will work 

 for the benefit of the bee-industry is 

 the good roads movement. San Diego 

 has recently voted $1,2.j0,000 for road 

 construction throughout the country 

 districts. This will help the bee-keep- 

 ers, as many are situated far from rail- 

 roads, and have long, hard hauls, which 

 almost render the work unprofitable. 



Of late years conditions have im- 

 proved for the small farmer. Poultry, 

 eggs, etc., bring fine prices, and the 

 mild climate renders the work pleas- 

 ant and agreeable in every way. Tur- 

 keys bring 2-') cents a pound, live 

 weight, and the demand is unlimited. 

 No business dovetails so nicely with. 

 the bee-industry as raising turkeys, for 

 a California bee-ranch forms a perfect 

 home for these liberty-loving birds. In 

 fact, the conditidns could hardly be im- 

 proved. Fallbrook and Escondido are 



honey-shipping centers ; they are 

 equally great on turkeys. 



As regards the price of land, there is 

 no reason to pay fancy prices. I have 

 heard of several bee-ranches for sale 

 at what seemed to me very reasonable 

 prices. The only way to see and un- 

 derstand this section properly, is to 

 come over the Santa Fe to San Diego, 

 and then make short trips back into 

 the country. Conditions are different 

 from what they used to be. Nice 

 country homes can be obtained, sur- 

 rounded with flowers, vines, figs, olives, 

 oranges, lemons, etc. There is no need 

 to rough it, unless you wish it. The 

 school facilities are excellent. 



Anybody can be suited as regards 

 climate. If you want to live where 

 there is no winter, locate along the 

 coast. For a dry climate, for rheuma- 

 tism or consumption, select a place 20 

 miles inland, and from the ocean's 

 fogs, or back l.'>0 miles on the Colorado 

 desert. If you like a little winter 

 weather, with a regular rainfall for 

 crops, trv a location 40 or 50 miles in- 

 land, with an elevation of 3000 to 4000 

 feet. There are some excellent health 

 resorts for the afflicted ones. 



Living is not expensive — not as ex- 

 pensive as in the Central States. Ex- 

 cellent cottages with all modern im- 

 provements can be had in San Diego 

 at from $12 to $1-5 a month, and in small 

 places still cheaper. 



I mention this because many seem to 

 think living expenses are high in Cali- 

 fornia. Everything seems to be high 

 in San Francisco, but the situation 

 there is abnormal. For a large city, 

 Los Angeles is a cheap place to live, all 

 things considered. Another point is, 

 there is work for all who want to work, 

 at living wages, so that no one need be 

 afraid to make the jump. California 

 never was better, and more people 

 would make it better, in my opinion. It 

 will accommodate many more millions 

 before being overcrowded. 



San Diego, Calif. 



Packing for Hives in Winter 



BY LOUIS MACEY. 



I have read everything I could get 

 hold of on this subject, and have tried 

 the "Three sticks across frames for 

 bee-space — 2 thicknesses of burlap, and 

 then a super -3 full of chaff as an ab- 

 sorbent or ventilating cover" — with 

 satisfactory results, only I now tack 

 the burlap to the bottom of the super, 

 so if a nice day comes and I want to 

 see how the bees are doing, I can lift 

 the super off without spilling the chaff. 



.'\sto packing cases, however, I have 

 seen nothing to fill the requirements 

 that were not too expensive. Where 

 one has a large number of hives 

 (" store-boxes "), as recommended by a 

 recent contributor, are not to be 

 thought of, especially in a prairie coun- 

 try where people even buy laths at 40 

 cents a bunch for knuilhiff: "store- 

 boxes" command a premium, and 

 there's not enough to go around: be- 

 sides, no ordinary "store-box" is sufli- 

 ciently weatherproof to keep the wind 

 out and the packing material dry, as it 

 should be kept; neither will a case 

 made of boards, after the first year, un- 



